《法華經》的文獻學研究———觀音的語義解釋

Philological Remarks on the Lotus Sutra:On the Name Avalokitasvara

观音菩萨，在中亚地区出土的5—6世纪《法华经》梵文残片中作Avalokitasvara（“见声者”），而在时间晚於此的梵文写本中作Avalokitesvara。通过对这一菩萨名汉译词的考察，我们发现其经历了从“阐音”、“见音声”、“光世音”、“观世音”、“观音”等古汉译至“观世自在”、“观自在”等新汉译的变化。但是，Avalokitasvara的语义不甚明了。在犍陀罗语中，“svara”有“声，音”和“念”两种意思，因此，Avalokitasvara在犍陀罗语．中可以理解为“见念者”。但随着svara“念”的意思日渐模糊，後人很可能就按照梵文svara的字面意思把Avalokitasvara解释为“见声者”。漠译《法华经·普门品》韵文部分即把Avalokitasvara这一菩萨名理解为前者，而散文部分则又理解成后者。

The name of the popular Mahāyāna Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara appears as Avalokitasvara("one who surveys sound")in the old Sanskrit fragments of the Lotus Sutra,from Central Asia,dating probably to the fifth or sixth century,while in the later Sanskrit manuscripts,we find the expected form Avalokitesvara instead.When we turn our attention to the Chinese translations of this Bodhisattva’s name,we can,in fact,trace the change from Avalokitasvara(闚音,見音聲,光世音,觀世音,觀音)to Avalokitesvara(觀世自在,觀自在).The etymology and the exact meaning of Avalokitasvara are,however,unclear.In Gandhari,the word "svara" means both "sound"(Skt.svara)and "thought",so the word "Avalokitasvara" could have meant "one who surveys thoughts(of beings)" in Gandhari,then later it was probably misunderstood as "one who surveys sounds(of beings)" as if it were a Sanskrit form.The Bodhisattva’s name is interpreted in the former manner in the verse portion of the Samantamukha-parivarta(普門品)of the Lotus Sutra,while in the prose portion it is understood in the latter manner.